COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene's Parks and Recreation Commission will hold an open house next month to share ideas for transforming the four corners area along Northwest Boulevard into a more pedestrian-friendly and aesthetically pleasing corridor.

More than 30 user groups, including state, federal and local authorities, have been meeting for months to discuss how they would like to see the corridor developed, and now the city's Parks and Recreation Commission wants to share the ideas gathered in that process.

The four corners area is loosely defined as the area along Northwest Boulevard stretching from Riverstone through the higher education corridor and ending near Independence Point in the downtown area.

"We hope to put together a strong consensus from all the information gathered and then formalize a recommendation to go to the City Council," Doug Eastwood, former parks director for the city, told the Parks and Recreation Commission during a workshop this week.

After considering input from the commission, it will be up to the City Council to decide whether to move ahead with hiring a land use planner to develop a master plan for the corridor.

Eastwood said officials have been considering public improvements along the heavily traveled stretch for more than a decade.

Much of the area includes land owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management. In order to proceed with any transition in use, the BLM requires a master plan be adopted for its consideration. Any development within the BLM land, which would be leased to the city, would be required to be for public use.

Project organizers, community leaders, stakeholders, and interested neighbors have offered dozens of ideas for upgrades - ranging from improved trail access and educational interpretive posts, to improving the campus around Memorial Field and even a community garden, said Scott Cranston, chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Parks and Recreation Commission.

Among other priorities listed by user groups is the development of a pedestrian/bike trail to provide a better connection with downtown and McEuen Park.

"We need to build better connectivity to the downtown," Eastwood said.

After adding two new roads into the higher education campus and Fort Grounds areas, Eastwood said traffic on Mullan Avenue has decreased about 70 percent. That has led to some discussion of scaling back motorist use of Mullan Avenue to make it more pedestrian friendly.

According to city spokesman Keith Erickson, funding sources for the land use planner and master plan may include community grants, private donations, the city and the Lake City Development Corporation.

Eastwood said while the process is moving forward, actual improvements to the corridor will not happen anytime soon.

"It's going to be a long, long-term project" Eastwood said. "The goal would be to develop a master ... and then, hopefully, by the end of next year, you're ready to rock and roll."